


Nail Polish

by elandhop



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Adoption, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hop is the best dad, Nail Polish, Post S2, Protective Parent Jim "Chief" Hopper, SO MUCH FLUFF, daddy hopper, max and el are friends, the party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 10:25:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12769059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elandhop/pseuds/elandhop
Summary: El is fascinated by the idea of nail polish, and Mike agrees to paint her nails. Of course, they're under the close supervision of none other than super dad Chief Jim Hopper.





	Nail Polish

The first time that she sees it, it’s pink and residing on Nancy Wheeler’s fingernails. The next time, it’s purple and on Joyce’s. The most recent time she’s seen it was Friday night which is when the Party usually comes over to Hopper’s cabin-hers too now she guesses because she’s home. It’s green on one hand and black on the other. The hands belong to Max Mayfield. Which is why when (in the middle of the VHS tape they’re watching intently) she says “Hey Max, your hands are bitchin”. 

She doesn’t expect Mike to frown, and Dustin’s popcorn to fall out of his now non-toothless (she’s still getting used to that) mouth. Mostly, she doesn’t expect Max’s eyebrow to go up and a smirk to form on her face. El feels all squirmy and sweaty now like she’s done something wrong, and grabs Mike’s hand. He’s sitting next to her on Hop’s couch.  
Like he’d ever leave her alone for a second. 

Hopper’s sitting at the kitchen table, newspaper in hand and clears his throat.  
“Kid means your nail polish, Max” El blushes and Max smiles really big. 

 

“Oh! Thanks El.” Max puts one hand on Lucas’s knee and pushes herself off the floor. She walks over to the couch and plops herself in between Eleven and Mike. 

 

“Hey!” Mike protests but Max just grins. She grabs El’s hand from Mike’s, and puts it in her own. Behind his paper, Hopper smirks. Sure, the kid hasn’t done anything to make him dislike him per-se, but it’s fun to watch him suffer. She’s his little girl, and he swears if this Wheeler kid breaks her heart, there will be hell to pay. Not that he expects that to happen, because they’re practically an old married couple with the eyes they make at each other. He wants to snort, but holds his composure. 

 

“It’s cool right?” she asks El, splaying her fingers out for the other girl to see the pretty colors. 

 

“Not really!” Mike exclaims and pushes Max playfully. 

 

“What is it?” El asks

 

“You don’t know what nail polish is? Even I know!” retorts Lucas from the ground. 

 

Max gives him a look and Dustin says “Shaddup buddy”. 

 

“Nail polish” El repeats. 

 

“Yeah, it comes in a little bottle with a brush and you paint it on your nails. Some people can even do designs.” Yes, Max is talking but El is mesmerized by the colors and lifts the girl’s fingers close to her face. 

 

“Designs?”

 

“Yup. Like flowers and hearts and stuff!” 

 

“Bitc-“

 

“I can get you some, I mean you know, I can steal some from Nancy” Mike runs a hand through his hair as he interrupts El, and his cheeks turn red. 

 

“Really?” El’s eyes go wide. “Can you paint them too?” 

 

Now Hopper snorts. Not because he doesn’t think that Mike can, or will for that matter paint his daughter’s nails, but because it brings him back to times when he did Sara’s nails and ended up with pink and purple nail polish all over Diane’s pristine table. Sara’s nails were too tiny and the brush too small for his big, papa bear hand. 

 

“If you do them, you put newspaper down on my table, okay Ellie?” he says, and El nods enthusiastically. 

 

“We can have a polishing party!” Max exclaims. “Lucas can do my nails, and Mike can do yours,El. It’ll be fun!” El immediately agrees to the idea, much to the boys’ chagrin.  
“As long as I don’t have to paint anybody’s nails, I’m good!” Dustin retorts, and Will nods in agreement. 

 

It’s Saturday night, and Mike is the first one to show up at the cabin, box in hand. The contents of the box include Nancy’s entire rainbow of a nail polish collection. He didn’t even have to steal. All he had to do was tell his big sister that El wanted to try nail polish, and Nancy thought the idea was absolutely adorable. 

Mike’s decided that If it it was up to him, he’d paint El’s nails Sunday Funday because it’s a deep yellow color similar to that of her favorite waffles. He doesn’t even have to ring the doorbell, and the lock clicks open, and then the door after. 

“You brought it!” El exclaims, pulling Mike into the cabin. Mike smiles sheepishly as El grabs the box from him and sets it on the table. 

“Thank you, Mike”. She smiles up at him, staring at the freckles that pepper his face. She hasn’t got any freckles herself, and thinks that his are a wonder, kind of like a constellation that lives in the night sky. 

“You’re welcome, El”. He’s about to hug her when Hopper clears his throat, then takes a sip of his beer. He’s sitting on the couch, hands folded over his chest, pretending-but-not-really to watch the television. 

Mike notices that their table has been covered in newspaper like El promised the chief, and grins. 

“I was thinking that maybe we could practice before the others get here. I’ve never really-you know-done nails before” 

“I’ll help with that one, kiddo” Hopper practically jumps off the couch, because he swears if this kid gets nail polish on his floor… well…. he’d never say it out loud, but this is kind of sweet of the kid to paint his Ellie’s nails. 

“Really?” El lights up, and drags Hopper by the arm to the table, and Mike follows in suit. They’re at the table, the three of them, El in the middle. She opens the lid of the box, and is instantly mesmerized. The polishes are in rainbow order, and they’re prettier than the 64 pack of Crayola Crayons that sits on her dresser-a gift from Will. 

“Pretty”

“So are you” Mike blurts out. Hopper sighs as Wheeler blushes. Jesus. El looks up at Hop, and her eyes bug out. 

“Mike, are you okay?” Mike coughs and gives El a thumbs up. 

“Pick a color, any color” Hopper sighs. 

He’s going to need alcohol, and a lot of it to get through this. 

El doesn’t pick Sunday Funday, but rather Raspberry Razzle. It’s a mixture between blue and purple, kind of a periwinkle color. 

“I love it” El says, as she holds the polish up to her face to get a better look. 

“I thought your favorite color was yellow” Hopper says, smoothing down the newspaper on the table. 

“Like Eggos” Mike adds. 

Eleven shrugs. “Yellow’s nice. I picked this one because it reminds me of the bracelet you gave me…” she pauses for a second before adding “Daddy” to the end of the sentence. 

Hopper’s stomach’s doing a flip because though it happens few and far between, this isn’t the first time she’s called him by that name. Never Dad or Papa, just Daddy. They’re both still getting used to it, although it is official. 

“You like that bracelet, Ellie?” 

“Love it” Hopper ruffles her curls and smirks. “That’s my girl”. 

Meanwhile, Mike has opened the bottle of polish and is rubbing the brush on the sides to wipe off the excess.

“May I?” Hop rolls his eyes as El places her hand in his, palm down. Mike’s fingers tremble as he glides the brush on to El’s thumb. 

“Don’t move, kiddo” Hop says. El is still as Mike dips the brush in and out of the bottle and glides it onto her fingers, and he’s doing surprisingly well, with minimal drips and drops on the newspaper. 

“Thank you, Mike” she beams up at him as one hand is finished. Mike screws the cap back on the polish and smiles at his work. 

“Don’t touch, and you’re welcome” he says softly. In his fourteen years, he never thought he’d be painting a girl’s nails, let alone his awesome, telekinetic girlfriend’s. But he’d do anything to make her happy. 

“Next hand!” she says gleefully. 

“Don’t you want to wait until the rest of your friends get here?” asks Hop. 

“No. I want you to do it”. Hop’s stomach flips again and he has so much admiration for his girl. 

“Me?” 

“You heard her, Chief!” Mike laughs, because he could never imagine Hopper doing nails. Like, ever. 

“I’d do anything for you kid” Hop sighs, and unscrews the tiny cap of the nail polish. He pulls El in for a hug. For the first time in a long time, he actually thinks he can do this whole Daddy thing again. 

The other kids will be here soon, and nail polish will probably get all over the newspaper and his floor, but he knows in his heart that his girl is happy, and that it’s going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is my first time ever publishing a piece of writing to the internet, so please let me know what you think! I'm incredibly nervous to post this.


End file.
